In an interactive television system, content delivery networks are typically based on a broadcast carousel only model that has limited bandwidth which limits the amount of broadcast content that can be delivered to television-based client devices. The limited bandwidth of broadcast carousel networks particularly constrains the user-interactive experience, such as for bound applications that are displayed for coordinated interaction with a television program, or for browsing and viewing Web pages through a television-based client device.
A typical broadcast carousel model delivers the broadcast content via a broadcast network that includes an in-band transport and/or an out-of-band transport. An in-band transport is a broadcast communication channel that a television-based client device can be tuned to receive broadcast content. An out-of-band transport is a communication channel that a television-based client device is always tuned to via an alternative source. However, most or all of the available bandwidth in the broadcast network is utilized to deliver the broadcast content to the television-based client devices leaving little or no bandwidth to provide for the bandwidth requirements of interactive television applications. Accordingly, for television-based entertainment and information systems, there is a need for optimized and alternative content delivery solutions.